July 30, 2025 • 34 mins
On this episode of The Downtown, we talk to Kevin with the Big Dill Pickle Party. We talk about the Big Dill Pickle Party happening on November 8th at Globe Life field and Texas Live.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Welcome to Downtown, brought to you by Arlen Sensidus and Media.
I am Rody John and today we talked to Kevin
with the Big Deal Pickle Party. We talked about the
Big Deal Pickle Party happening on November eighth at Globe
black Field and Texas Live. This is going to be
and is the biggest pickle party in America and the world.
(00:47):
That's right. You want to find out more about it,
and I want to give it to you. So without
further ado, here is Kevin with the Big Deal Pickle Party.
I would like to welcome the show. Kevin with the
Big Deal Pickle Party. How are you doing today, sir?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, we we're the world's largest pickle party.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
We've been trying to get here for two years. Wow.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah. So the Big Deal of Pickle Party is happening
November eighth at Globe Life Field, which is going to
be absolutely amazing. There is everything from seventy different food vendors,
dancing raves, pickle eating championships, and so much more. Let's
go all the way back in time real fast. What
how did all this even start?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, it's a great question, and I just wanted to
shout out there to Texas live as well.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yes, well, yes, yes, they're all, yeah, they're all they're
all together, intertwined.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
So we run a marketing and branding agency and I've
done events. So I did a Philadelphia Tuesday festival that
did twenty people at Lincoln Financial Field. And food festivals
are interesting, they're really enticing, but there can be issues
as well, and we'll kind of get into that. We
solve problems in the in the world and in this
(02:02):
kind of food festival world, and how could we change that?
But long story short, there was a guy in my
office and he said we should do pickles And this
was twenty eighteen, and I said, that's crazy. I never
heard of something like that. But he let me know
about Picklesburg, which just happened. So they do about three
hundred thousand people. Good lord, there's North Carolina and whatnot.
(02:22):
So we did our own version in Philadelphia. It was
very well attended, and it showed me that there was
a pickle revolution coming and it's coming hard, and no
one had know about nobody had put anything about them.
Sure there were pickle brands, but nobody had put a
brand around the people, the community and I realized that
gen Z was really into pickles. That's what we kind
(02:45):
of did. So twenty nineteen we started the Big Deal.
We get the naming rights to the Big Deal, because
I wasn't gonna do it without that. Watching Baltimore and
it was not easy.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Nobody knew what a pickle festival was.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Towards the end, I literally thought I was going to
go that business, and somebody wrote an article that went
super viral about it, sold all these tickets and we
were off and running, and we thought life was going
to be great. And we had a deal in Saint Louis,
and we had a deal in Baltimore, and COVID came.
Once that happened, you couldn't do events. I went to
(03:22):
work and built one point two million followers across Facebook
and TikTok and whatnot, groups and everything for people that
love pickles, because I knew right then it was the
first time that you could do social media like it
was in two thousand and eight and build a community
because everybody was home nothing to do and people wanted
to pickle and talk about pickles and all that kind
(03:43):
of stuff. Then we were off. So twenty twenty one
we go back to Baltimore. Nothing was even open. It
was kind of sketchy whether you even could do events.
The place we did it at power Plant Live literally
was not open. We just kind of launched because we
knew we would never be able to make it if
we didn't do twenty twenty one. And it was so magical.
(04:06):
Even with COVID getting worse that summer and all these
things and people telling us we couldn't do it, we
sold out in three weeks.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
People just wanted to do something.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
People came from all over the country, and when I
mean all over every corner of the world came because
they wanted to do something, and we were one of
the only people doing something and no outbreaks, and people
were just thrilled. And then twenty twenty two we just
explode tickets everything. But that's when it started the competition.
(04:38):
So people started coming to figure out what are we doing,
and then they would go back to their corner of
the world and pop up their own. Oh so I
said when I started there about nine to fifteen of these.
This year there'll be six hundred Pickle East, some not
very good.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Obviously.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
The national news that kind of tried to take everything
we're doing. So that was what people started to do.
They started to be like, what's the big deal doing
how it is?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And what can do?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
And what I talk to you about is food festivals
mostly became sample festivals, so that was the model. You
would buy a ticket and you could go there and sample.
Now we allow you to go sample unlimited amount of
pickles and whatnot. But what we really wanted to do
was take the emphasis off all the food. We're gonna
have great food, we have great partners Texas State Fair
(05:31):
and people like that. We wanted to create an entertainment
experience where you could come in and we would have
performers and activations and all these different things that would
allow you to be there all day instead of just
coming in. We saw a lot of food festivals you'd
come in for three hours and leave, and characters and
everything that we strive and every year we're bringing in
(05:52):
more and more people, building out more partners, and that's
where we kind of hear. So we wanted to come
to Texas for National Pickle Day, which is six days
after November eight, and we wanted to come there because
Mansfield's the pickle capital of the world and the tradition
and an awesome facility and globe life field and really
(06:12):
bring the center of the Pickle universe to global life
field Texas Live that day.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Right, there's so many there's so many things you touched on.
I want to go first. Let's start with where is
your favorite place for a Philly cheese stick? Because obviously
people come to Philadelphia they put the cheese steak. Yes,
there's obviously other great food there as well, but that
is what every like when people come to Texas, it's
like tex mex and barbecue, Like, that's where's the best.
Where do I get to go? Where's your what's your
(06:40):
vote for? Maybe even the top three best to the
Philiy cheese stakes.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
As place is a place called Angelo's. Okay, thinking about
an hour to get a.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Cheese steak there seated role amazing. But what people you
also have? I wouldn't call it like the McDonald's of
cheese stiaks. So you have Pats and Gino's, which is
the tourist you're gonna come in, and then you have
all these other places just Dollas, Sandro's and whatnot scattered.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
So it was a great concept because where I grew
up in New York.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So I used to was Nathan's hot Dog and he
always had a great event every year.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
So I wanted to.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Bring that to Philadelphia because I was like, why hasn't
Philly done anything to honor the pickle? And at first
I thought about a parade. I'm like, I mean a cheesesteak.
So I'm like, we should do a cheesesteak parade. And
it turned into a festival at Lincoln Financial Field, wildly
successful as far as people. What people don't think about, though,
is that cheese steak is not going to taste the
(07:36):
same when a Blackstone in on in a July day,
you know, and the lines are going to belong and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
So that really got me.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
I had some partners that helped me out with and whatnot,
and that kind of you learn. Anytime you do something,
you learn, and I just took in what worked, what
didn't work, and I wanted to you know, well, that's
one of the things that we worked really hard on
the big Deal. We are completely fan centric. We think
about them. That's why we tear our lines and everything.
We try to take away the pain points because a
(08:08):
lot of these festivals are great in concept, poorly operated. Uh,
and people can get very upset because you're deamon of
this festival. You're thinking about it. Yeah, I'm gonna bring you.
You were the organizer, you got everyone to buy tickets,
and now you're sitting in a line for an hour
to get in and you're like, this isn't all the
fun I thought.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
It was gonna be right exactly. Well, I want to
touch on that too. So you guys had to take
a break in twenty twenty obviously with the with COVID everything.
You want to make sure everyone's okay. Then you do
come back in twenty twenty one, and I do think
a lot of people who were pretty quick out of
the gate to start events again because everybody needed to
get outside and do something with people around them and
(08:48):
just be, you know, around people again. Where do you
when you took that year off and you obviously were
building that brand, which congratulations that is huge, like one
million vault, Like I imagine that you were teaching a
lot of people a lot of things with what you
did in that year, But.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
We really need people were home all yeah and.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Turning to social media, you know, to to not feel
lonely and whatnot. So I think that that that was
the perfect opportunity to build out uh these brands and
uh and and kind of teach people about pickling.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Right, Well, when you were taking that break, what did
you kind of realize when you were going to come back. Okay,
we have to make sure we're not doing this, this
and this, but we are going to add this, this
and this.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Yeah, I just thought it. So one of the things
I do. Lines are inevitable.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Okay, large amounts of people you're just going to have,
So how can we make those better? How can we
What we did was put jumbo TVs all around so
when we're running contests and doing live shows and whatnot,
you could still see it.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
All right, You're not missing anything.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Because you're you're you're eating, you're waiting for your fried pickles,
but you're still getting the action. So we just these
are all things that we thought about, and then really
bringing the live performances. The live so we do a
Nickelodeon style show, we'll pick up and that really I
went from So after festival season, I go visit my
brother every year, we go to Disney Universal, all those places,
(10:09):
and I took a lot of cues for how they
do things and how they keep people entertained, because that's
what's all about.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
If you can make somebody leave your festival and they had.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
A great time, created these memories, they're gonna want to
go back.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah, they're gonna want to go tell people about it.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
True. Yeah, And obviously they'll see the social media and
they tagged. Then they start seeing what you guys are
doing on your social media and like, oh shit, I
really got to get on to this.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
I mean, I think the only thing we're fighting against
these days is like I said, that everybody's trying to
do these and everybody's trying to make money off them,
and uh, you know when they give people a poor time,
you know, we'll see in our comments.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Are you guys the ones who threw this festival?
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Are you guys the ones this because that's the lasting
memory that they have that it just wasn't what they
wanted it to be.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah. Yeah, that's the thing with like the knockoff or
the bootleg festivals. They have a somewhat of an idea,
but they're just kind of a cash grab and a
money grab. It's really unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Yeah, absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Well, so what are some other things people can really
look forward to on November eighth.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
November eighth is going to be like walking into a
pickle circus.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yeah, when you first come in, you're gonna get your ticket,
you're gonna get a festival guide and whatnot. But what
I like to say is it's gonna be a gorgeous
day and all of a sudden, you're gonna hear a
drum line and whistles and you're gonna know, right then
you're at something very different, and you're gonna walk in
(11:37):
and you're gonna see breakdancers and people juggling, and it's
gonna feel like a true party.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
You're truly here to celebrate the pickle.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
And then you're gonna see viral people like the Pickle
Priest blessing pickles. Like I said, pickle up, and you're
gonna see carnival games. And then you're gonna see all
your favorite pickle uh that We've hand selected pickle companies
from around the country, including guest Made, and you're gonna say,
I'm gonna go get a ton of samples. And then
if you're twenty one plus, you're gonna try pickle back
(12:09):
shots and pickle Margarita's and you're just gonna wander around
and find activations, line dancing, anything and everything in every corner,
and it's gonna be what we consider the best day ever.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
H And that's what we try to thrive. So there's
a little bit of something for everyone. The kids.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
What we like is parents come with their kids, they
have a great time. People come solo, people come with
their boyfriend, parents come without the kids because.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
They want that day off. But whatever it is, Uh,
there's gonna.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Be a bunch of fun, entertainment and a great day
and great food. You know, we were we hand select
everybody that comes into this festival. So we look at
your profile, we look at Facebook, we look what people are.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Saying your reviews.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Can you deliver for our guests, because that's what it's
all about, the guest experience.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah, so as we anybody who living in the Metroplex
and those best Maid has been doing a pickle parade
for years upon years. When you actually got in touch
with best Maid, did you kind of compare notes as
to seeing what they did with their parade and then
maybe being like compared to kind of what you do.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, So it's interesting I found out a lot about it.
So they don't really put on the Mansfield Parade.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
It's actually put on by the.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Pickle queensh at our event, and we partner with Mansfield.
So the one thing we like to do is really
be respectful of everything we do. That's why we're about
tonight going to donate some money from our first week
sales to the Texas floods. We come into an area,
we're taking care of it. We didn't launch any of
our marketing until their parade was over because we wanted
(13:43):
to respect their tradition. And then I met with them
when I was out in Texas and I said, I
want you guys to be a part of this, the
history of Mansfield and whatnot. That's what we're here to do,
celebrate the pickle in general and the history. And then
Best Maid had been part of it. They still supply
their pickle and whatnot. Amazing people. But funny story, I
(14:04):
went out to the Pickle Imporium, flew out here two
years before all this came, bought a bunch of stuff
and talked to the lady at the front desk and
I said, I do this festival call the.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
World's largest pickle party.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
I'd love that Best Made involved, and she was able
to give me a business card that I held on
to for two years and invite them them out once
we put the plan together and got the date and
let them know. Listen, it would not be the world's
largest pickle party without the number one pickle in Texas.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
So they were thrilled to be involved.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
And we also have Fletcher's Corn Dog, we had Martin
House Brewing Company, so we worked very chicken and pickle.
We worked very hard to go to people and say
you have to be a part of this. You're a
Texas staple or you're in this industry. We need to
hear and this is gonna be a great opportunity to
reach out and touch people and give them a great
day through your brain.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Have you tried the Martin House best made pickle beer?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I have many times. It's so good. Got every different
type of beer under the sun.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Oh I imagine. Yeah, that one really took off for
them and they did not see that one coming.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
And let me tell you the most amazing people we
had something. You know, we're we're Northeast guys, okay, So
we had nothing but the nicest Texas welcome from everybody
that we walked to and talked to, and everybody pretty
much said, yeah, we'll be a part of this. You know,
we want to help bring this to Texas and make
sure that this is celebrated correctly.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
I mean, pickles obviously have been Oh my god, They've
just been a staple for the word I would say
America for decades upon decades. And then yeah, I really
do think within the past few years, you know, the
pickle rick with Rick and Morty, and then obviously everyone
doing some kind of version of fried pickle, and then
everything else. The pickles are just just on a next
(15:52):
level right now.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
They are crescendoing right off and Grillos. You have all
these brands that are now coming to us. And that's
the other thing. National Pickle Deck. It's going to come
into focus right around the end of October, and that's
where everyone's positioning themselves. They want to be involved in
this event and they want to showcase their pickle brand
and their dill pickle items. So we're super excited to
(16:16):
be able to do that. And I have a lot
of tricks up our sleeve that we still haven't released.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
What is the most what are you most excited for?
Obviously when you're setting up an event and making sure
everything's good. Show days can be very stressful. There's always
something going on. Nothing ever goes completely smooth. What is
something that when you're at one of these festivals that
you actually really do look forward to, especially, like you said,
when you go to a different city, you really take
(16:44):
over and help that city kind of show up case
what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, it's such a long ride, like putting your show together.
I said, it's been two years, so I have a
vision in my head of how this whole thing's going
to happen. Sometimes, like you said, it pivots and everything,
working with all the great local brands, Balloon Therapy and
everybody we pulled together to make this happen. You have
that vision in your head, and then seeing it come
(17:08):
to life and people having fun and everything, that's that's
what really gets me, you know. And then at the
end we close with this giant pickle rave that's just unbelievable,
and people are just euphoric, you know, to leave and
we know we delivered, which is what means something. And
then you really get a great week because people are.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Just tagging you and telling you I had such a
great time.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
We send out a survey to our guests and that's
all the feedback that we love to hear.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I love that. Now. There are so many people out
there that, like you said, either get dragged to this
or they see that it's fun and they molt a
go with their friends or family, their partners, whatever, but
they're just not really into pickles.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
What do they what can don't you don't have?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, you don't have to be into pickles to go
to this because yeah tell us why.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Yeah, you don't have to love pickles to come here.
You have to love fun.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yeah, Okay, first of all, you might not know that
you might you might like a fried pickles. But even then,
if you're not the biggest pickle fan, you're gonna come here.
You're gonna have a blast, you're gonna do line dancing,
you're gonna do all those things that you're naturally gonna love.
Pickles are just the binder, yeah, the overall beacon that
(18:23):
we put everything together. We have mascots running around taking
selfies with people. Like you said, you might just be
looking around out of a second and there's a flash
mob that pops up and it's all fun.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
That's awesome. Now, I love it. And I told you
before we started recording. Uh, this was sent out to
my friend group and some of them are not into
pickles whatsoever. Uh, but again I am trying to get
their children into pickles. So shout out to the Fratto House.
But they they want to come, and then we're all
gonna come because it sounds like literally the most, like
you said, the best I ever, Like, how are you
(18:57):
not gonna have a good time even if you're not
into pickles, music, drinks, all kinds of food, Like, there's
just so much going on here.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yeah. Yeah, and that that's where we're looking to deliver
each year.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Were up in the Annie and and and we guarantee it.
We guarantee you're gonna have a blast at this event.
And there's something for everybody. Whether you like pickles or not.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
We hope you do, but we don't. The only thing
we discriminate against the sweet pickles.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
I can't right, not a fan. Yeah, what are your
thoughts on kool aid pickles?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
I I we will have one vendor, so okay, we
are mostly a dill pickle festival, get it. We have
very very strict stipulations too. So you have to make
your own pickles, have to be uh in your commercial
kitchen and all that. You have to be able to
handle volume and have some kind of drawl whether people
are like I. You know, So we got this guy,
Scary Larry. Now he just started about six seven months ago,
(19:52):
but he's gone super roll and people are asking for him.
So if if people ask for somebody, or we think
you bring a lot of value to the s show,
we're going to make sure we have the at the
event and we do whatever.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
It takes a lot of time.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Most of pickle companies we just take a deposit, we
give it back to them, So we do whatever we
can to get people there for the fans.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
That's what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
That What is something that you learned about pickles that
you never thought you'd learned about.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
That's a great question.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I think in general, I didn't realize how many people
use pickles as a side hustle. Yeah, a lot of
farmers when I first got into this and whatnot, they
started pickling to make money, to help themselves out, to
make extra money.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
So that was a lot of people that originally that
do this.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
And literally I met people who started pickling during COVID
and turn it into business.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
You know, there's actually a UFC shider I've interviewed that.
That's her scith Houstle also is to have yeah, her
own pickle things. Actually you might need to get in
contact with her. She needs to come down to Texas anyway.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
So yeah, Marryer, we just like I said, we have
we have a lot of people, a lot of influencers
that are going to be coming into town that weekend.
And that's the other thing. We bring a ton of tourism. Yeah,
we talked to you know, visit Arlington and whatnot. But
we have great hotel deals. Hotels that are normally three
hundred bucks, they're gonna be one hundred and fifteen for
(21:19):
the weekend. After you purchase, you can get that whole
email that has all that. So we're always thinking every
different step of the way. All we want you to
do is come out here and is by weekend for
the cowboys, so oh even better weekends all us.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
What is something that you would tell yourself starting this
in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
I I just never knew it would explode like this. Pickles,
you know, I knew the pickles were gonna get super popular.
But like any crap beer, there was a craft beer revolution.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Anything.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
These things just take off and it's like anything else.
It's capitalism as well. So you can be very successful
and when you become very successful, then you're gonna.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Have a lot of competition.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
True, and that just it's a very interesting game. But
all like I said, Conneticut, So that was one of
the things that changed a little bit for us. Even
though we you know, we try to put on the
best show and whatnot. When you have festivals pop up
Connecticut here, there, everywhere, every town, we lost a little
bit of where we used to have people come from everywhere.
(22:33):
I'm driving twelve hours, I'm driving fifteen hours because we
were the only showing down right now. It's like, yeah,
I'm just gonna do the local one for what it is.
But people really want to go to the super Bowl
and really want that full pickle experience like no other.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
They're going to come to the big deal.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Yeah, I mean I got to wrestle Aniavior, so I
get it.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Yeah, that that's a great that's a great analogy. And
speaking of that, I won't announce her name. She didn't
make it one year. One of the most famous superstars
you could imagine, was almost going to come to the big.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Deal in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Oh, have full talk with their lawyers, with WWE, with
everything so that I would say, if you asked me,
what was one opportunity that was missed, it was that
because there was a tropical storm that came through on
the weekend that we were hosting and we had to
move the festival to November.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
But it was truly the thrill of a lifetime to
find somebody of that magnitude. We actually had worked out
where they were going to be their full character, the
whole nine, which would have superly gone viral and been
an amazing thing.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Hopefully that works out again in the future because I.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Did invite them to Arlington. Okay I did not hear back,
but that would be something special.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
There are a lot of people in the DFW area
that you probably you know, could get I think we
could have a conversation after this.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Interview, and what we love is boots on the ground. Yeah,
people help you.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I'll tell you this, anybody that you want to come
will personally get them tickets about building a community, and
that people didn't help us, so I've had so many
people reach out. I had a video editor really assumed guy.
It was like, Hey, I want to come with my
girlfriend of my friends. I'll help you do some videos.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
I'll lend you that.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
So we've had people that come to the festival that
hit us up afterwards and say, hey, can I work
for you?
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Can help out?
Speaker 2 (24:31):
So the movement's growing and people know what we're building,
and that's what we've kind of built this whole thing on,
which has been really when you ask me, what's the
most amazing part. Those conversations that I've have been just
enlightening and the amount of people that have said, I
want to help you build this to what it should
be and you should be in every city and doing
(24:52):
these all over. I mean, we've had talks with city
Field on some mall of America. So it just continue
needs to grow and grow.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
That's awesome. Well congratulations on that because that's huge. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Yeah, it's just us ten twelve hours a day. Yeah,
that's the other thing.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
All our branding looks really really good. It's really four
of us.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Yeah, wow, four of you.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Now we scale up for the festival, we bring in
temporary workers and whatshot. But if you're looking at day
to day operations and making all this tour happen, it's
literally a fore man, I'm answering the phone, and you
know it's just us making it happen.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Damn.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
I mean, yeah, we invest so much back into the festivals.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
If I told you what it costs for us to
put these shows on, uh, it's but we want them
to be world class.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
We want everything there.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
So when somebody comes to me and says, hey, would
you mind, could you could we do this and it
sounds awesome, I'm like, Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Let me thank yes, let's do it. Well, is there
anything we didn't touch on that people can look forward
to for the big deal Pickle party?
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Would?
Speaker 2 (26:01):
I would just say, hey, you know, we're only gonna
be able to do seventy five hundred to eight thousand tickets.
We've already opening week, we sold about twenty five hundred
right now, and they're gonna go. We saw this in Philly,
our hometown, so we came back last year and we
sold out and with like a month three weeks to go,
and people were really upset and they were.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Like, I have no idea pick up fest would sell out.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
So you want to invest, you can look at our reviews, YouTube,
whatever you want. It's one hundred. We're gonna set it
gonna be a great show. Just go get those tickets,
make sure you secure a spot. We're very aggressive with
the marketing and uh, it will sell out.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Sooner than you think it is. And you know how
everybody is. Ye're gonna be in November first, like, let's go. Uh.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Then we start getting all the emails please let me in.
I'll pay anything, and it gets that spot.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
So you're like sorry earlier.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Other than that, we're bringing a whole team out, great
performers and like I said, they're they're gonna put everything
they can into this show.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
It well, we have a segment of the show be
called the Tournament of Toppings. As much as we're trying
to find the best pizza in Arlington, we're trying to
find the best pizza all over. Since you are from
the New York area and New York is very known
for pizza, where's your favorite pizza place?
Speaker 3 (27:14):
I haven't been to New York in twenty two years.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
As far as oh my god, I'm so sorry, so
you're actually still in Philly. Yeah, sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
But I did grow up.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
There was a place. My parents will never make me,
but you're right. There's a place called Vinnie's which is
really good. Best pizza in the world. Can't beat it.
I don't care anywhere you go. But we do have
pickle pizza at the festival. When we first started doing that,
people thought we were absolutely nuts.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
I'm telling you, I've had it at BJ's Delicious.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
You do the ranch drizzle, yes, pickles, you could put
bacon on it.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
It'll blow your mind.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
So we went out and got those are the guys
we have for in the Texas State Fair, and it's
gonna be it's gonna be unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Pickle pizza will blow your mind.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I love it. Yeah, they had it at BJ. Actually
get still order it's their cheeseburger pizza places. Really Yeah. Yeah,
they have a cheeseburger pizza pickles on it. And I
was like, this is amazing. This is the next level.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, people have learned. So that's the biggest thing I
would say. When you go to the festival. It's like, well,
I want fried pickles, Well I want to pickle corn dog. Yeah,
well I want to pickle pizza. Well, I want to
pickle egg rolls.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
That's why we always tell our vendors listen, don't do
full portions that are off doing sampling sections. So people
then can really because they want it for the Instagram.
They want to be able to try everyone. So and
then our best sellers pickle lemonade. People love it and
it sells like hotcakes.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah, I was gonna say something. Oh yeah, phone eats first,
that's yeah. Yeah, everyone needs a picture of their food first.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Also fried pickles. I think we all need to agree
fried pickle spears are a little weird. We just stick
to the slices. But it's just me.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yeah, you chip gut.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
So yeah, we're talking at Chicken and Pickle and they
might do something with fried pickles.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
We have a bunch of other people.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
But again we're talking to them about, hey, can we
bring out a full pickleball court?
Speaker 3 (29:12):
So h that's how crazy we get with this stuff.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I didn't see pickleball being as big as it is,
but look at look where we are now.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Yeah, pickles and pickleball.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, pickles and pickleball.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Now.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
People wanted to find out more obviously about the big
deal Pickle Party, get tickets, follow you guys online, see
what you guys are doing. How can they do all
the things?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Yeah, yeah, so social media, we have a great social media.
Don't see a lot of festival brands with one point
two million followers, which we do across social media. So
that's our Instagram's big Deal Pickle Party. You can see
all this stories, the reels, the highlights that'll tell you
everything you need to know about the we literally you
(29:50):
can look at twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
We take you through the whole year geez start.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
To finish, you know, from crowning a radio DJ, the
Grand Girkin to our Mummers Parade to everything we did
with that, so really awesome highlights that tells you everything.
And uh we'll do something some more similar for this tour.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
But then if you want to get tickets, Big deal
dot com b I G, D I L L dot
com and then Backslash Texas super simple. We have any
you know tickets from twenty nine ninety nine to the
VIP Experience one nine ninety nine. That gets you an
awesome brunch bove A. It gets you a party within
(30:34):
a party, it gets you DJs characters line, dancing, photo booth,
you name it, you know, and that usually goes to
fastest and then and then we tear like early entry.
So a lot of people don't want to wait in
any lines. Yeah, so we sell six to seven hundred
tickets for just those people. They get in the park
an hour and a half early. Uh so they get
(30:55):
to sample and try everything they want without the lines.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
That's huge.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
I was looking at VIP and I was like, holy crap,
I needed that's where you're going to be.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
That's where that's where most people want to be. And
we get merged.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
So you're getting a neon hat, you're getting pickle ears.
So we created these pickle years that people love and
let you get into character.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
You're also getting a VIP.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
There's hair tinseling, there's temporary tattoos, there's face painting. So
you're leaving VIP by two o'clock. Great food, great Bloody
Mary bar, drinks, and now you're pickled out.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
You're ready to go and attack the festival.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
I love it well, I can.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
You can always go back because they're private bathrooms. It
over the balcony overlooks everything, so that is truly the place.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
To be I love that.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Well.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
I can't wait for November eighth. And I imagine everyone
here in Arlington, and like you said, probably other places
around the country as well, are going to come into
Arlington and to check this out. This is gonna be awesome.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Absolutely. Like I said, we are turning November eighth, the
Pickle Universe is coming to Arlington, Texas. And that was
the last thing I'll say. So I hadn't been in Texas.
Told you everybody was great. I'm wearing a panther.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
You sure are.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
I went to more now is Brewing and they let
me know. Fort Worth is fort Worth, and Dallas is Dallas. Look,
everywhere in the middle is Arlington.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
You're not wrong, You're not wrong. Yeah, and yeah, Panthers,
panther city, it is fort Worth.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Will love it, yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
So we were happy to get all the people from
fort Worth who were super excited as well. Yeah, I'm
sure we'll see some cowboy hats and cowboy boots.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
That's just a regular day.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Thanks from that, We're excited. Texas get ready love it.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Thank you so much to Kevin again for being on
the show. Don't forget November eighth, The big deal pickle
Party is happening not only at globlat Field but also
Texas Live. You are not gonna want to miss this
and I can't wait myself. So while you're doing all that,
make sure to go out and eat local, drink local,
and go rediscover your city.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
Tag us and send those pictures over to us on
Facebook Arlington Citizen Media, Twitter atx Citizen Media, tag us
on Instagram Arlington City This Media and send us send
those pictures of the old fashioned way email Arlington Citizen
Media at gmail dot com. Also go to our website
www dot Arlington citizen Media dot com. Don't forget to
(33:12):
subscribe and give those five star reviews of the downtown
at Apple Music, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and also hit us
on SoundCloud, iHeartRadio and YouTube.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Act at bart and the other album A couple of
the burble of adopt
Speaker 2 (34:12):
A
Welcome to Downtown, brought to you by Arlen Sensidus and Media.
I am Rody John and today we talked to Kevin
with the Big Deal Pickle Party. We talked about the
Big Deal Pickle Party happening on November eighth at Globe
black Field and Texas Live. This is going to be
and is the biggest pickle party in America and the world.
(00:47):
That's right. You want to find out more about it,
and I want to give it to you. So without
further ado, here is Kevin with the Big Deal Pickle Party.
I would like to welcome the show. Kevin with the
Big Deal Pickle Party. How are you doing today, sir?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, we we're the world's largest pickle party.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
We've been trying to get here for two years. Wow.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah. So the Big Deal of Pickle Party is happening
November eighth at Globe Life Field, which is going to
be absolutely amazing. There is everything from seventy different food vendors,
dancing raves, pickle eating championships, and so much more. Let's
go all the way back in time real fast. What
how did all this even start?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, it's a great question, and I just wanted to
shout out there to Texas live as well.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yes, well, yes, yes, they're all, yeah, they're all they're
all together, intertwined.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
So we run a marketing and branding agency and I've
done events. So I did a Philadelphia Tuesday festival that
did twenty people at Lincoln Financial Field. And food festivals
are interesting, they're really enticing, but there can be issues
as well, and we'll kind of get into that. We
solve problems in the in the world and in this
(02:02):
kind of food festival world, and how could we change that?
But long story short, there was a guy in my
office and he said we should do pickles And this
was twenty eighteen, and I said, that's crazy. I never
heard of something like that. But he let me know
about Picklesburg, which just happened. So they do about three
hundred thousand people. Good lord, there's North Carolina and whatnot.
(02:22):
So we did our own version in Philadelphia. It was
very well attended, and it showed me that there was
a pickle revolution coming and it's coming hard, and no
one had know about nobody had put anything about them.
Sure there were pickle brands, but nobody had put a
brand around the people, the community and I realized that
gen Z was really into pickles. That's what we kind
(02:45):
of did. So twenty nineteen we started the Big Deal.
We get the naming rights to the Big Deal, because
I wasn't gonna do it without that. Watching Baltimore and
it was not easy.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Nobody knew what a pickle festival was.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Towards the end, I literally thought I was going to
go that business, and somebody wrote an article that went
super viral about it, sold all these tickets and we
were off and running, and we thought life was going
to be great. And we had a deal in Saint Louis,
and we had a deal in Baltimore, and COVID came.
Once that happened, you couldn't do events. I went to
(03:22):
work and built one point two million followers across Facebook
and TikTok and whatnot, groups and everything for people that
love pickles, because I knew right then it was the
first time that you could do social media like it
was in two thousand and eight and build a community
because everybody was home nothing to do and people wanted
to pickle and talk about pickles and all that kind
(03:43):
of stuff. Then we were off. So twenty twenty one
we go back to Baltimore. Nothing was even open. It
was kind of sketchy whether you even could do events.
The place we did it at power Plant Live literally
was not open. We just kind of launched because we
knew we would never be able to make it if
we didn't do twenty twenty one. And it was so magical.
(04:06):
Even with COVID getting worse that summer and all these
things and people telling us we couldn't do it, we
sold out in three weeks.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
People just wanted to do something.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
People came from all over the country, and when I
mean all over every corner of the world came because
they wanted to do something, and we were one of
the only people doing something and no outbreaks, and people
were just thrilled. And then twenty twenty two we just
explode tickets everything. But that's when it started the competition.
(04:38):
So people started coming to figure out what are we doing,
and then they would go back to their corner of
the world and pop up their own. Oh so I
said when I started there about nine to fifteen of these.
This year there'll be six hundred Pickle East, some not
very good.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Obviously.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
The national news that kind of tried to take everything
we're doing. So that was what people started to do.
They started to be like, what's the big deal doing
how it is?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And what can do?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
And what I talk to you about is food festivals
mostly became sample festivals, so that was the model. You
would buy a ticket and you could go there and sample.
Now we allow you to go sample unlimited amount of
pickles and whatnot. But what we really wanted to do
was take the emphasis off all the food. We're gonna
have great food, we have great partners Texas State Fair
(05:31):
and people like that. We wanted to create an entertainment
experience where you could come in and we would have
performers and activations and all these different things that would
allow you to be there all day instead of just
coming in. We saw a lot of food festivals you'd
come in for three hours and leave, and characters and
everything that we strive and every year we're bringing in
(05:52):
more and more people, building out more partners, and that's
where we kind of hear. So we wanted to come
to Texas for National Pickle Day, which is six days
after November eight, and we wanted to come there because
Mansfield's the pickle capital of the world and the tradition
and an awesome facility and globe life field and really
(06:12):
bring the center of the Pickle universe to global life
field Texas Live that day.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Right, there's so many there's so many things you touched on.
I want to go first. Let's start with where is
your favorite place for a Philly cheese stick? Because obviously
people come to Philadelphia they put the cheese steak. Yes,
there's obviously other great food there as well, but that
is what every like when people come to Texas, it's
like tex mex and barbecue, Like, that's where's the best.
Where do I get to go? Where's your what's your
(06:40):
vote for? Maybe even the top three best to the
Philiy cheese stakes.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
As place is a place called Angelo's. Okay, thinking about
an hour to get a.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Cheese steak there seated role amazing. But what people you
also have? I wouldn't call it like the McDonald's of
cheese stiaks. So you have Pats and Gino's, which is
the tourist you're gonna come in, and then you have
all these other places just Dollas, Sandro's and whatnot scattered.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
So it was a great concept because where I grew
up in New York.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So I used to was Nathan's hot Dog and he
always had a great event every year.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
So I wanted to.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Bring that to Philadelphia because I was like, why hasn't
Philly done anything to honor the pickle? And at first
I thought about a parade. I'm like, I mean a cheesesteak.
So I'm like, we should do a cheesesteak parade. And
it turned into a festival at Lincoln Financial Field, wildly
successful as far as people. What people don't think about, though,
is that cheese steak is not going to taste the
(07:36):
same when a Blackstone in on in a July day,
you know, and the lines are going to belong and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
So that really got me.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
I had some partners that helped me out with and whatnot,
and that kind of you learn. Anytime you do something,
you learn, and I just took in what worked, what
didn't work, and I wanted to you know, well, that's
one of the things that we worked really hard on
the big Deal. We are completely fan centric. We think
about them. That's why we tear our lines and everything.
We try to take away the pain points because a
(08:08):
lot of these festivals are great in concept, poorly operated. Uh,
and people can get very upset because you're deamon of
this festival. You're thinking about it. Yeah, I'm gonna bring you.
You were the organizer, you got everyone to buy tickets,
and now you're sitting in a line for an hour
to get in and you're like, this isn't all the
fun I thought.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
It was gonna be right exactly. Well, I want to
touch on that too. So you guys had to take
a break in twenty twenty obviously with the with COVID everything.
You want to make sure everyone's okay. Then you do
come back in twenty twenty one, and I do think
a lot of people who were pretty quick out of
the gate to start events again because everybody needed to
get outside and do something with people around them and
(08:48):
just be, you know, around people again. Where do you
when you took that year off and you obviously were
building that brand, which congratulations that is huge, like one
million vault, Like I imagine that you were teaching a
lot of people a lot of things with what you
did in that year, But.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
We really need people were home all yeah and.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Turning to social media, you know, to to not feel
lonely and whatnot. So I think that that that was
the perfect opportunity to build out uh these brands and
uh and and kind of teach people about pickling.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Right, Well, when you were taking that break, what did
you kind of realize when you were going to come back. Okay,
we have to make sure we're not doing this, this
and this, but we are going to add this, this
and this.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Yeah, I just thought it. So one of the things
I do. Lines are inevitable.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Okay, large amounts of people you're just going to have,
So how can we make those better? How can we
What we did was put jumbo TVs all around so
when we're running contests and doing live shows and whatnot,
you could still see it.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
All right, You're not missing anything.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Because you're you're you're eating, you're waiting for your fried pickles,
but you're still getting the action. So we just these
are all things that we thought about, and then really
bringing the live performances. The live so we do a
Nickelodeon style show, we'll pick up and that really I
went from So after festival season, I go visit my
brother every year, we go to Disney Universal, all those places,
(10:09):
and I took a lot of cues for how they
do things and how they keep people entertained, because that's
what's all about.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
If you can make somebody leave your festival and they had.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
A great time, created these memories, they're gonna want to
go back.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah, they're gonna want to go tell people about it.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
True. Yeah, And obviously they'll see the social media and
they tagged. Then they start seeing what you guys are
doing on your social media and like, oh shit, I
really got to get on to this.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
I mean, I think the only thing we're fighting against
these days is like I said, that everybody's trying to
do these and everybody's trying to make money off them,
and uh, you know when they give people a poor time,
you know, we'll see in our comments.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Are you guys the ones who threw this festival?
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Are you guys the ones this because that's the lasting
memory that they have that it just wasn't what they
wanted it to be.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah. Yeah, that's the thing with like the knockoff or
the bootleg festivals. They have a somewhat of an idea,
but they're just kind of a cash grab and a
money grab. It's really unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Yeah, absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Well, so what are some other things people can really
look forward to on November eighth.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
November eighth is going to be like walking into a
pickle circus.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yeah, when you first come in, you're gonna get your ticket,
you're gonna get a festival guide and whatnot. But what
I like to say is it's gonna be a gorgeous
day and all of a sudden, you're gonna hear a
drum line and whistles and you're gonna know, right then
you're at something very different, and you're gonna walk in
(11:37):
and you're gonna see breakdancers and people juggling, and it's
gonna feel like a true party.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
You're truly here to celebrate the pickle.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
And then you're gonna see viral people like the Pickle
Priest blessing pickles. Like I said, pickle up, and you're
gonna see carnival games. And then you're gonna see all
your favorite pickle uh that We've hand selected pickle companies
from around the country, including guest Made, and you're gonna say,
I'm gonna go get a ton of samples. And then
if you're twenty one plus, you're gonna try pickle back
(12:09):
shots and pickle Margarita's and you're just gonna wander around
and find activations, line dancing, anything and everything in every corner,
and it's gonna be what we consider the best day ever.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
H And that's what we try to thrive. So there's
a little bit of something for everyone. The kids.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
What we like is parents come with their kids, they
have a great time. People come solo, people come with
their boyfriend, parents come without the kids because.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
They want that day off. But whatever it is, Uh,
there's gonna.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Be a bunch of fun, entertainment and a great day
and great food. You know, we were we hand select
everybody that comes into this festival. So we look at
your profile, we look at Facebook, we look what people are.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Saying your reviews.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Can you deliver for our guests, because that's what it's
all about, the guest experience.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah, so as we anybody who living in the Metroplex
and those best Maid has been doing a pickle parade
for years upon years. When you actually got in touch
with best Maid, did you kind of compare notes as
to seeing what they did with their parade and then
maybe being like compared to kind of what you do.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, So it's interesting I found out a lot about it.
So they don't really put on the Mansfield Parade.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
It's actually put on by the.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Pickle queensh at our event, and we partner with Mansfield.
So the one thing we like to do is really
be respectful of everything we do. That's why we're about
tonight going to donate some money from our first week
sales to the Texas floods. We come into an area,
we're taking care of it. We didn't launch any of
our marketing until their parade was over because we wanted
(13:43):
to respect their tradition. And then I met with them
when I was out in Texas and I said, I
want you guys to be a part of this, the
history of Mansfield and whatnot. That's what we're here to do,
celebrate the pickle in general and the history. And then
Best Maid had been part of it. They still supply
their pickle and whatnot. Amazing people. But funny story, I
(14:04):
went out to the Pickle Imporium, flew out here two
years before all this came, bought a bunch of stuff
and talked to the lady at the front desk and
I said, I do this festival call the.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
World's largest pickle party.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
I'd love that Best Made involved, and she was able
to give me a business card that I held on
to for two years and invite them them out once
we put the plan together and got the date and
let them know. Listen, it would not be the world's
largest pickle party without the number one pickle in Texas.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
So they were thrilled to be involved.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
And we also have Fletcher's Corn Dog, we had Martin
House Brewing Company, so we worked very chicken and pickle.
We worked very hard to go to people and say
you have to be a part of this. You're a
Texas staple or you're in this industry. We need to
hear and this is gonna be a great opportunity to
reach out and touch people and give them a great
day through your brain.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Have you tried the Martin House best made pickle beer?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I have many times. It's so good. Got every different
type of beer under the sun.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Oh I imagine. Yeah, that one really took off for
them and they did not see that one coming.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
And let me tell you the most amazing people we
had something. You know, we're we're Northeast guys, okay, So
we had nothing but the nicest Texas welcome from everybody
that we walked to and talked to, and everybody pretty
much said, yeah, we'll be a part of this. You know,
we want to help bring this to Texas and make
sure that this is celebrated correctly.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
I mean, pickles obviously have been Oh my god, They've
just been a staple for the word I would say
America for decades upon decades. And then yeah, I really
do think within the past few years, you know, the
pickle rick with Rick and Morty, and then obviously everyone
doing some kind of version of fried pickle, and then
everything else. The pickles are just just on a next
(15:52):
level right now.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
They are crescendoing right off and Grillos. You have all
these brands that are now coming to us. And that's
the other thing. National Pickle Deck. It's going to come
into focus right around the end of October, and that's
where everyone's positioning themselves. They want to be involved in
this event and they want to showcase their pickle brand
and their dill pickle items. So we're super excited to
(16:16):
be able to do that. And I have a lot
of tricks up our sleeve that we still haven't released.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
What is the most what are you most excited for?
Obviously when you're setting up an event and making sure
everything's good. Show days can be very stressful. There's always
something going on. Nothing ever goes completely smooth. What is
something that when you're at one of these festivals that
you actually really do look forward to, especially, like you said,
when you go to a different city, you really take
(16:44):
over and help that city kind of show up case
what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, it's such a long ride, like putting your show together.
I said, it's been two years, so I have a
vision in my head of how this whole thing's going
to happen. Sometimes, like you said, it pivots and everything,
working with all the great local brands, Balloon Therapy and
everybody we pulled together to make this happen. You have
that vision in your head, and then seeing it come
(17:08):
to life and people having fun and everything, that's that's
what really gets me, you know. And then at the
end we close with this giant pickle rave that's just unbelievable,
and people are just euphoric, you know, to leave and
we know we delivered, which is what means something. And
then you really get a great week because people are.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Just tagging you and telling you I had such a
great time.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
We send out a survey to our guests and that's
all the feedback that we love to hear.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I love that. Now. There are so many people out
there that, like you said, either get dragged to this
or they see that it's fun and they molt a
go with their friends or family, their partners, whatever, but
they're just not really into pickles.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
What do they what can don't you don't have?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, you don't have to be into pickles to go
to this because yeah tell us why.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Yeah, you don't have to love pickles to come here.
You have to love fun.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yeah, Okay, first of all, you might not know that
you might you might like a fried pickles. But even then,
if you're not the biggest pickle fan, you're gonna come here.
You're gonna have a blast, you're gonna do line dancing,
you're gonna do all those things that you're naturally gonna love.
Pickles are just the binder, yeah, the overall beacon that
(18:23):
we put everything together. We have mascots running around taking
selfies with people. Like you said, you might just be
looking around out of a second and there's a flash
mob that pops up and it's all fun.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
That's awesome. Now, I love it. And I told you
before we started recording. Uh, this was sent out to
my friend group and some of them are not into
pickles whatsoever. Uh, but again I am trying to get
their children into pickles. So shout out to the Fratto House.
But they they want to come, and then we're all
gonna come because it sounds like literally the most, like
you said, the best I ever, Like, how are you
(18:57):
not gonna have a good time even if you're not
into pickles, music, drinks, all kinds of food, Like, there's
just so much going on here.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yeah. Yeah, and that that's where we're looking to deliver
each year.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Were up in the Annie and and and we guarantee it.
We guarantee you're gonna have a blast at this event.
And there's something for everybody. Whether you like pickles or not.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
We hope you do, but we don't. The only thing
we discriminate against the sweet pickles.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
I can't right, not a fan. Yeah, what are your
thoughts on kool aid pickles?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
I I we will have one vendor, so okay, we
are mostly a dill pickle festival, get it. We have
very very strict stipulations too. So you have to make
your own pickles, have to be uh in your commercial
kitchen and all that. You have to be able to
handle volume and have some kind of drawl whether people
are like I. You know, So we got this guy,
Scary Larry. Now he just started about six seven months ago,
(19:52):
but he's gone super roll and people are asking for him.
So if if people ask for somebody, or we think
you bring a lot of value to the s show,
we're going to make sure we have the at the
event and we do whatever.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
It takes a lot of time.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Most of pickle companies we just take a deposit, we
give it back to them, So we do whatever we
can to get people there for the fans.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
That's what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
That What is something that you learned about pickles that
you never thought you'd learned about.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
That's a great question.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I think in general, I didn't realize how many people
use pickles as a side hustle. Yeah, a lot of
farmers when I first got into this and whatnot, they
started pickling to make money, to help themselves out, to
make extra money.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
So that was a lot of people that originally that
do this.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
And literally I met people who started pickling during COVID
and turn it into business.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
You know, there's actually a UFC shider I've interviewed that.
That's her scith Houstle also is to have yeah, her
own pickle things. Actually you might need to get in
contact with her. She needs to come down to Texas anyway.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
So yeah, Marryer, we just like I said, we have
we have a lot of people, a lot of influencers
that are going to be coming into town that weekend.
And that's the other thing. We bring a ton of tourism. Yeah,
we talked to you know, visit Arlington and whatnot. But
we have great hotel deals. Hotels that are normally three
hundred bucks, they're gonna be one hundred and fifteen for
(21:19):
the weekend. After you purchase, you can get that whole
email that has all that. So we're always thinking every
different step of the way. All we want you to
do is come out here and is by weekend for
the cowboys, so oh even better weekends all us.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
What is something that you would tell yourself starting this
in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
I I just never knew it would explode like this. Pickles,
you know, I knew the pickles were gonna get super popular.
But like any crap beer, there was a craft beer revolution.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Anything.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
These things just take off and it's like anything else.
It's capitalism as well. So you can be very successful
and when you become very successful, then you're gonna.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Have a lot of competition.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
True, and that just it's a very interesting game. But
all like I said, Conneticut, So that was one of
the things that changed a little bit for us. Even
though we you know, we try to put on the
best show and whatnot. When you have festivals pop up
Connecticut here, there, everywhere, every town, we lost a little
bit of where we used to have people come from everywhere.
(22:33):
I'm driving twelve hours, I'm driving fifteen hours because we
were the only showing down right now. It's like, yeah,
I'm just gonna do the local one for what it is.
But people really want to go to the super Bowl
and really want that full pickle experience like no other.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
They're going to come to the big deal.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Yeah, I mean I got to wrestle Aniavior, so I
get it.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Yeah, that that's a great that's a great analogy. And
speaking of that, I won't announce her name. She didn't
make it one year. One of the most famous superstars
you could imagine, was almost going to come to the big.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Deal in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Oh, have full talk with their lawyers, with WWE, with
everything so that I would say, if you asked me,
what was one opportunity that was missed, it was that
because there was a tropical storm that came through on
the weekend that we were hosting and we had to
move the festival to November.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
But it was truly the thrill of a lifetime to
find somebody of that magnitude. We actually had worked out
where they were going to be their full character, the
whole nine, which would have superly gone viral and been
an amazing thing.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Hopefully that works out again in the future because I.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Did invite them to Arlington. Okay I did not hear back,
but that would be something special.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
There are a lot of people in the DFW area
that you probably you know, could get I think we
could have a conversation after this.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Interview, and what we love is boots on the ground. Yeah,
people help you.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I'll tell you this, anybody that you want to come
will personally get them tickets about building a community, and
that people didn't help us, so I've had so many
people reach out. I had a video editor really assumed guy.
It was like, Hey, I want to come with my
girlfriend of my friends. I'll help you do some videos.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
I'll lend you that.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
So we've had people that come to the festival that
hit us up afterwards and say, hey, can I work
for you?
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Can help out?
Speaker 2 (24:31):
So the movement's growing and people know what we're building,
and that's what we've kind of built this whole thing on,
which has been really when you ask me, what's the
most amazing part. Those conversations that I've have been just
enlightening and the amount of people that have said, I
want to help you build this to what it should
be and you should be in every city and doing
(24:52):
these all over. I mean, we've had talks with city
Field on some mall of America. So it just continue
needs to grow and grow.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
That's awesome. Well congratulations on that because that's huge. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Yeah, it's just us ten twelve hours a day. Yeah,
that's the other thing.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
All our branding looks really really good. It's really four
of us.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Yeah, wow, four of you.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Now we scale up for the festival, we bring in
temporary workers and whatshot. But if you're looking at day
to day operations and making all this tour happen, it's
literally a fore man, I'm answering the phone, and you
know it's just us making it happen.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Damn.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
I mean, yeah, we invest so much back into the festivals.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
If I told you what it costs for us to
put these shows on, uh, it's but we want them
to be world class.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
We want everything there.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
So when somebody comes to me and says, hey, would
you mind, could you could we do this and it
sounds awesome, I'm like, Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Let me thank yes, let's do it. Well, is there
anything we didn't touch on that people can look forward
to for the big deal Pickle party?
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Would?
Speaker 2 (26:01):
I would just say, hey, you know, we're only gonna
be able to do seventy five hundred to eight thousand tickets.
We've already opening week, we sold about twenty five hundred
right now, and they're gonna go. We saw this in Philly,
our hometown, so we came back last year and we
sold out and with like a month three weeks to go,
and people were really upset and they were.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Like, I have no idea pick up fest would sell out.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
So you want to invest, you can look at our reviews, YouTube,
whatever you want. It's one hundred. We're gonna set it
gonna be a great show. Just go get those tickets,
make sure you secure a spot. We're very aggressive with
the marketing and uh, it will sell out.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Sooner than you think it is. And you know how
everybody is. Ye're gonna be in November first, like, let's go. Uh.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Then we start getting all the emails please let me in.
I'll pay anything, and it gets that spot.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
So you're like sorry earlier.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Other than that, we're bringing a whole team out, great
performers and like I said, they're they're gonna put everything
they can into this show.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
It well, we have a segment of the show be
called the Tournament of Toppings. As much as we're trying
to find the best pizza in Arlington, we're trying to
find the best pizza all over. Since you are from
the New York area and New York is very known
for pizza, where's your favorite pizza place?
Speaker 3 (27:14):
I haven't been to New York in twenty two years.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
As far as oh my god, I'm so sorry, so
you're actually still in Philly. Yeah, sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
But I did grow up.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
There was a place. My parents will never make me,
but you're right. There's a place called Vinnie's which is
really good. Best pizza in the world. Can't beat it.
I don't care anywhere you go. But we do have
pickle pizza at the festival. When we first started doing that,
people thought we were absolutely nuts.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
I'm telling you, I've had it at BJ's Delicious.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
You do the ranch drizzle, yes, pickles, you could put
bacon on it.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
It'll blow your mind.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
So we went out and got those are the guys
we have for in the Texas State Fair, and it's
gonna be it's gonna be unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Pickle pizza will blow your mind.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I love it. Yeah, they had it at BJ. Actually
get still order it's their cheeseburger pizza places. Really Yeah. Yeah,
they have a cheeseburger pizza pickles on it. And I
was like, this is amazing. This is the next level.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, people have learned. So that's the biggest thing I
would say. When you go to the festival. It's like, well,
I want fried pickles, Well I want to pickle corn dog. Yeah,
well I want to pickle pizza. Well, I want to
pickle egg rolls.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
That's why we always tell our vendors listen, don't do
full portions that are off doing sampling sections. So people
then can really because they want it for the Instagram.
They want to be able to try everyone. So and
then our best sellers pickle lemonade. People love it and
it sells like hotcakes.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah, I was gonna say something. Oh yeah, phone eats first,
that's yeah. Yeah, everyone needs a picture of their food first.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Also fried pickles. I think we all need to agree
fried pickle spears are a little weird. We just stick
to the slices. But it's just me.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yeah, you chip gut.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
So yeah, we're talking at Chicken and Pickle and they
might do something with fried pickles.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
We have a bunch of other people.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
But again we're talking to them about, hey, can we
bring out a full pickleball court?
Speaker 3 (29:12):
So h that's how crazy we get with this stuff.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I didn't see pickleball being as big as it is,
but look at look where we are now.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Yeah, pickles and pickleball.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, pickles and pickleball.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Now.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
People wanted to find out more obviously about the big
deal Pickle Party, get tickets, follow you guys online, see
what you guys are doing. How can they do all
the things?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Yeah, yeah, so social media, we have a great social media.
Don't see a lot of festival brands with one point
two million followers, which we do across social media. So
that's our Instagram's big Deal Pickle Party. You can see
all this stories, the reels, the highlights that'll tell you
everything you need to know about the we literally you
(29:50):
can look at twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
We take you through the whole year geez start.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
To finish, you know, from crowning a radio DJ, the
Grand Girkin to our Mummers Parade to everything we did
with that, so really awesome highlights that tells you everything.
And uh we'll do something some more similar for this tour.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
But then if you want to get tickets, Big deal
dot com b I G, D I L L dot
com and then Backslash Texas super simple. We have any
you know tickets from twenty nine ninety nine to the
VIP Experience one nine ninety nine. That gets you an
awesome brunch bove A. It gets you a party within
(30:34):
a party, it gets you DJs characters line, dancing, photo booth,
you name it, you know, and that usually goes to
fastest and then and then we tear like early entry.
So a lot of people don't want to wait in
any lines. Yeah, so we sell six to seven hundred
tickets for just those people. They get in the park
an hour and a half early. Uh so they get
(30:55):
to sample and try everything they want without the lines.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
That's huge.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
I was looking at VIP and I was like, holy crap,
I needed that's where you're going to be.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
That's where that's where most people want to be. And
we get merged.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
So you're getting a neon hat, you're getting pickle ears.
So we created these pickle years that people love and
let you get into character.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
You're also getting a VIP.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
There's hair tinseling, there's temporary tattoos, there's face painting. So
you're leaving VIP by two o'clock. Great food, great Bloody
Mary bar, drinks, and now you're pickled out.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
You're ready to go and attack the festival.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
I love it well, I can.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
You can always go back because they're private bathrooms. It
over the balcony overlooks everything, so that is truly the place.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
To be I love that.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Well.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
I can't wait for November eighth. And I imagine everyone
here in Arlington, and like you said, probably other places
around the country as well, are going to come into
Arlington and to check this out. This is gonna be awesome.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Absolutely. Like I said, we are turning November eighth, the
Pickle Universe is coming to Arlington, Texas. And that was
the last thing I'll say. So I hadn't been in Texas.
Told you everybody was great. I'm wearing a panther.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
You sure are.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
I went to more now is Brewing and they let
me know. Fort Worth is fort Worth, and Dallas is Dallas. Look,
everywhere in the middle is Arlington.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
You're not wrong, You're not wrong. Yeah, and yeah, Panthers,
panther city, it is fort Worth.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Will love it, yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
So we were happy to get all the people from
fort Worth who were super excited as well. Yeah, I'm
sure we'll see some cowboy hats and cowboy boots.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
That's just a regular day.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Thanks from that, We're excited. Texas get ready love it.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Thank you so much to Kevin again for being on
the show. Don't forget November eighth, The big deal pickle
Party is happening not only at globlat Field but also
Texas Live. You are not gonna want to miss this
and I can't wait myself. So while you're doing all that,
make sure to go out and eat local, drink local,
and go rediscover your city.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
Tag us and send those pictures over to us on
Facebook Arlington Citizen Media, Twitter atx Citizen Media, tag us
on Instagram Arlington City This Media and send us send
those pictures of the old fashioned way email Arlington Citizen
Media at gmail dot com. Also go to our website
www dot Arlington citizen Media dot com. Don't forget to
(33:12):
subscribe and give those five star reviews of the downtown
at Apple Music, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and also hit us
on SoundCloud, iHeartRadio and YouTube.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Act at bart and the other album A couple of
the burble of adopt
Speaker 2 (34:12):
A
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